Confronting the Gender Myth: An Exploration of Variance in Male Versus Female Experience With Sibling Abuse

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-1-2013

Keywords

child abuse, domestic violence, family issues and mediators, male victims, mental health and violence, perceptions of domestic violence, sexual assault, women offenders

Abstract

Research on family violence has overwhelmingly focused on a patriarchal model, which inaccurately depicts men as exclusively perpetrators and women as exclusively victims of abusive family acts. In addition, empirical research on sibling abuse in families has been significantly absent from the professional literature. This exploratory study used a survey instrument based on an altered version of the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) to investigate the question of whether significant gender differences exist in the experience of sibling abuse as a child, either as perpetrator or victim. MANOVAs (multivariate analyses of variance) indicate that there are no gender differences related to surviving sibling abuse or perpetrating emotional and physical abuse, whereas it was found that women had a significantly higher rate of perpetration related to sibling sexual abuse. Specific results related to the gender variance of perpetrators are explored. Limitations as well as implications of these findings on treatment, counselor education, and future research are discussed. © The Author(s) 2013.

Journal Title

Journal of Interpersonal Violence

Volume

28

Issue

8

First Page

1693

Last Page

1708

DOI

10.1177/0886260512468324

First Department

Graduate Psychology and Counseling

Link to Full Text

@ the James White Library

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